Express News Service
MUMBAI: In a major relief to the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, the Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the civic agency BMC to accept Rutuja Latke’s resignation by Saturday 11am allowing her to contest the Andheri East Assembly by-election.
Latke had moved the HC on Wednesday seeking direction to the Mumbai civic body to accept her resignation as its employee. “If an employee wants to resign and contest elections, what is the difficulty? The petitioner is a clerk. Why is the Municipal Commissioner not using his discretion and taking a decision,” Justice Jamdar asked.
“It is just an employer-employee dispute before us. This is not even a matter that should have come to court. The commissioner should have done it by now. When will you (BMC) do it? The last date (to submit nomination) is tomorrow,” the HC bench said.
The last date for filing the nomination papers for the November 3 by-election is October 14. Latke’s counsel Vishwajeet Sawant told the court that she is only a clerk, who has no pending dues or enquiries. In normal circumstances, the resignation would have been accepted by the Joint Commissioner itself. “But due to the political circumstances, her resignation is pending before the Commissioner,” Sawant said.
The BMC told the court that a decision on the resignation was not taken as the resignation was defective.In her petition, Rutuja Latke said the delay by the civic body in issuing a letter or order (accepting her resignation) appears to be deliberate to prevent her from contesting the by-election.
She also requested the high court to allow her to file a nomination for the by-election, necessitated by the death of her husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke. Rutuja Latke, however, has not mentioned the party she wants to file the poll nomination.
Separately, Rutuja Latke has maintained that she will contest the by-election on the Thackeray faction’s ‘mashaal’ symbol.
EC ‘biased, unfair’, says ThackerayMumbai: The Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s faction alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is biased and that it favoured Eknath Shinde while allotting the party symbols to the two factions. The ECI had allotted to the Shinde faction, Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena as the name and a pair of swords and a shield as its party symbol, whereas the Uddhav faction got Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray as its name and a ‘mashaal’ or lit torch as its party symbol. In a four-page letter to the ECI, Uddhav Thackeray has raised 12 serious points and accused the commission of being unfair and biased. Thackeray also alleged ECI of deliberately leaking and making their party name and symbol submissions public on their website, giving an unfair advantage to Shinde.
MUMBAI: In a major relief to the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, the Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the civic agency BMC to accept Rutuja Latke’s resignation by Saturday 11am allowing her to contest the Andheri East Assembly by-election.
Latke had moved the HC on Wednesday seeking direction to the Mumbai civic body to accept her resignation as its employee. “If an employee wants to resign and contest elections, what is the difficulty? The petitioner is a clerk. Why is the Municipal Commissioner not using his discretion and taking a decision,” Justice Jamdar asked.
“It is just an employer-employee dispute before us. This is not even a matter that should have come to court. The commissioner should have done it by now. When will you (BMC) do it? The last date (to submit nomination) is tomorrow,” the HC bench said.
The last date for filing the nomination papers for the November 3 by-election is October 14. Latke’s counsel Vishwajeet Sawant told the court that she is only a clerk, who has no pending dues or enquiries. In normal circumstances, the resignation would have been accepted by the Joint Commissioner itself. “But due to the political circumstances, her resignation is pending before the Commissioner,” Sawant said.
The BMC told the court that a decision on the resignation was not taken as the resignation was defective.
In her petition, Rutuja Latke said the delay by the civic body in issuing a letter or order (accepting her resignation) appears to be deliberate to prevent her from contesting the by-election.
She also requested the high court to allow her to file a nomination for the by-election, necessitated by the death of her husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke. Rutuja Latke, however, has not mentioned the party she wants to file the poll nomination.
Separately, Rutuja Latke has maintained that she will contest the by-election on the Thackeray faction’s ‘mashaal’ symbol.
EC ‘biased, unfair’, says Thackeray
Mumbai: The Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s faction alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is biased and that it favoured Eknath Shinde while allotting the party symbols to the two factions. The ECI had allotted to the Shinde faction, Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena as the name and a pair of swords and a shield as its party symbol, whereas the Uddhav faction got Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray as its name and a ‘mashaal’ or lit torch as its party symbol. In a four-page letter to the ECI, Uddhav Thackeray has raised 12 serious points and accused the commission of being unfair and biased. Thackeray also alleged ECI of deliberately leaking and making their party name and symbol submissions public on their website, giving an unfair advantage to Shinde.
